NH1 News

Hispanic children in US more likely to lack health insurance because of citizenship status

DURHAM - Hispanic children are less likely than either white or African American children to be covered with health insurance and their family's citizenship status is the leading reason.

Researchers at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire said they found that non-citizen Hispanic children are almost three times more likely to be uninsured.

In 2014, only 90.3 percent of Hispanic children had health insurance, leaving more than 1.7 million uninsured. In comparison, 95.4 percent of non-Hispanic white children and 95.3 percent of black children had coverage.

The researchers also found that children in states that expanded Medicaid are less likely to be uninsured than children in non-expansion states, although low and moderate income children are more likely to be uninsured regardless of state expansion status.